According to the latest statistics, half of the world's population lives in cities. They host the economic and socio-political life of countries. Cities are producers of the lion's share of the value of all goods and services of countries. It is clear that the main development of society is urbanization. Features of the concentration of the population in cities and their impact on the agricultural environment is the main component of the historical process of development of countries. An important role in the development of the country is played by the cities of the Urals, which occupy a special place in the history of Russia.
The emergence of cities
The formation of cities took place in three stages. The period from the 15th to the 17th centuries covers the formation of fortresses, small villages, settlements in the Urals. With these outposts began the development of the Urals. The second stage of urbanization falls on the first quarter of the 18th century. With the onset of the Petrine era, the first fortress plants appeared, where the power of the state was laid. At this time, there are Sterlitamak, Uralsk, Chelyabinsk, Nizhny Tagil and other cities in the Urals.
Ural city development
The last third of the 19th century until 1920 was the capitalist modernization of Russia. This stage of urbanization is mainly associated with the discovery and development of new mineral deposits, the construction of railways and large factories. In this regard, infrastructure arises around them. Socialist industrialization sharply accelerated the growth rate of cities not due to the construction of new ones, but due to population growth in cities that arose in the previous stages of the formation of cities in the Urals.
Chelyabinsk
Historically, the entire land of the Southern Urals is Bashkir. Russians came to these lands in the 17th century. In 1736, the Chelyabinsk fortress was founded on the site of the Bashkir village of Chelyabi. Only after 50 years, in 1787, the city receives the official status of the city. The trade and craft layer begins to form in the city, and the resulting goods need to be sold. The development of trade begins, the first fairs are organized in which Chelyabinsk occupies one of the leading places in trade among the cities of the southern Urals.
By the end of the 19th century, when the Transsiberian came to these parts, Chelyabinsk became a railway junction through which trains go to Vladivostok. It was from Chelyabinsk that the historical Great Way to Siberia began, about 7 thousand kilometers long. A section of the road was built from 1891 to 1916. At this time, population growth in the city begins.
The impetus for population growth was given by the industrialization program. Thanks to this and the huge role that the city played during the war, Chelyabinsk became an industrial giant, a scientific center and the main city of the Urals in its southern part. Currently, more than a million people live in the city.
Nizhny Tagil
The year 1696 is considered the beginning of the history of the city when copper ore was found along the banks of the Vyya River. In 1714, Tsar Peter the Great ordered Akinfiy Demidov, the owner of the Ural factories, to take up the creation of ironworks for the production of iron, copper and cast iron. Demidov begins the construction of two plants Tagilsky and Vyiska. In 1722, the first cast iron was obtained at the Vyisk plant. The same year is considered the foundation of the Demidov dynasty of Nizhny Tagil, one of the largest industrial cities in the Urals at present.
Interesting historical facts:
- Tagil metal was used for the outer cladding of the Statue of Liberty in New York.
- In Nizhny Tagil, the serf father and son of the Cherepanovs built the first steam locomotive in Russia.
- In 1932, construction began on the shops of the Ural Car-Building Plant, and in 1936 the first freight car was launched.
- In 1937, the first tram was launched in Nizhny Tagil.
- During the war, 11 enterprises were evacuated to the Uralvagonzavod, and the production of T-34 tanks began.
- During the war years, NTMZ produced more than 30% of the armored steel of the USSR.
Currently, in Nizhny Tagil there are more than thirty factories and enterprises, a city with well-developed modern infrastructure, and the most important industrial and cultural center of the Urals.
Sterlitamak
As mentioned above, almost all cities in the Urals began to appear in the XVIII century, in the second period of urbanization. Sterlitamak Marina was founded in 1766. She served to send on the river. White table salt delivered from the Iletsk mine. At the beginning of the century, it was a Yamskaya station on a postal road.
During the peasant war, the Sterlitamak pier was burned by the rebels. The pier is rebuilt after the peasant war, and only with it is the shipment of salt. In 1781, Sterlitamak received city status.
The first temple is being built - the Cathedral of the Kazan Mother of God. Trade takes the city to a new level, turning it into a merchant with a developed infrastructure. In Sterlitamak, leather and blacksmithing enterprises, a flour mill and enterprises for the creation of beer and vodka appear. An extensive network of shops, warehouses and markets is being formed in the city. The abolition of serfdom in Russia leads to an increase in the population of Sterlitamak. After the revolution, the city until 1922 was the capital of the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
Oil production is a new round in the development of industrial Sterlitamak. Today, the economic potential of the city is large chemical and petrochemical industries. Having such seemingly polluting industries in the city, Sterlitamak is one of the cleanest and greenest cities in the Urals.
Uralsk
The city received its name in 1775, after the suppression of the rebellion of E. Pugachev. Catherine the Second ordered to rename the river and the town on it in order to erase episodes of rebellion from the history of the city and the memory of the people. The Yaik River began to be called the Urals, and the Yaitsky town - the city of Uralsk.
A century passes, and in 1894 a narrow gauge railway was laid between Uralsk and Orenburg. True, the station was located outside the city limits. For a long time Uralsk was the last train station, only in 1936 the narrow gauge railway line was extended to Iletsk, thereby establishing direct communication with Kazakhstan and Siberia. In this regard, trade turnover is being activated in the region. The first major fairs appear. At the beginning of the 20th century, Uralsk became a large industrial city of the Urals.
Currently, industry in Uralsk is represented by energy, engineering, and light industry. The city is famous for the products of its instrument-making plants. The city of Uralsk has a modern developed industrial base, is a cultural center with a developed infrastructure.